ABSTRACT
The importance of Mint Pars, which represent the theoretical exchange values of currencies based on the amount of gold represented by cash, depends on the international recognition of gold as a standard by which to measure the value of currency. The Gold Point Theory was before the war not only a theory but a description of the relations which actually obtained between the chief gold-using centres of the world. There were, however, certain exceptions of detail, relating to both the upper and lower gold points. Gold was thus an international currency, and the assumptions were justified that a country's currency was a claim to so much gold, and that that claim could if desired be enforced. An assumption which, underlies the Gold Point hypothesis–that the claim to gold can be enforced–this was entirely destroyed during the war and is only restored very partially.
